Arete Research Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) Stock

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) had its price objective increased by analysts at Arete Research from $283.00 to $285.00 in a report released on Wednesday,MarketScreener reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the e-commerce giant’s stock. Arete Research’s price target points to a potential upside of 42.79% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Desjardins boosted their target price on shares of Amazon.com to $218.00 in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Robert W. Baird set a $285.00 price target on Amazon.com and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Rothschild & Co Redburn set a $230.00 price objective on Amazon.com in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $300.00 target price on Amazon.com and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Amazon.com in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $288.60.

Amazon.com Price Performance

AMZN stock opened at $199.60 on Wednesday. Amazon.com has a one year low of $161.38 and a one year high of $258.60. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $231.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $229.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.14 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The e-commerce giant reported $1.95 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.97 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $213.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $211.02 billion. Amazon.com had a return on equity of 21.87% and a net margin of 10.83%.The business’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.86 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Amazon.com will post 6.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Amazon.com

In other Amazon.com news, Director Daniel P. Huttenlocher sold 1,237 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $226.61, for a total transaction of $280,316.57. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 26,148 shares in the company, valued at $5,925,398.28. This trade represents a 4.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Matthew S. Garman sold 17,768 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $216.90, for a total value of $3,853,879.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 6,273 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,360,613.70. This represents a 73.91% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 47,061 shares of company stock valued at $10,351,262. Insiders own 9.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amazon.com

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Amazon.com by 2.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 849,721,601 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $186,420,422,000 after purchasing an additional 17,447,045 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 381,681,441 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $83,805,794,000 after purchasing an additional 7,584,156 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Amazon.com by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 225,120,994 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock valued at $51,753,622,000 after purchasing an additional 2,479,324 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Amazon.com in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,868,735,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Amazon.com by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 97,379,134 shares of the e-commerce giant’s stock worth $18,527,354,000 after buying an additional 302,858 shares during the period. 72.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Amazon.com

Here are the key news stories impacting Amazon.com this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic stake in Beta Technologies validates logistics/green‑aviation long game — Amazon disclosed a meaningful position in BETA, signaling a potential long‑term partner for middle‑mile cargo and sustainability initiatives; this supports growth optionality beyond retail and cloud. Amazon Bets Big on BETA
• Positive Sentiment: Amazon Pharmacy expands same‑day prescriptions to ~4,500 U.S. cities — execution on health/recurring revenue initiatives that can improve gross margins and customer retention over time. Amazon Pharmacy Expansion
• Positive Sentiment: AWS momentum and cloud demand remain bright — coverage notes continued AWS strength supporting Amazon’s long‑term AI/cloud strategy, which underpins revenue and margin leverage once capex cycles roll into services. AWS Momentum Article
• Positive Sentiment: AWS CEO pushes back on AI panic — Matt Garman said fears around software/AI overspending are “overblown,” attempting to calm investor sentiment and frame capex as strategic investment. Garman Interview
• Neutral Sentiment: Mixed analyst moves — price‑target changes from firms (Arete raised modestly; Daiwa trimmed its target but kept a buy) show divergent views on valuation vs. long‑term upside. Analyst PT Changes
• Negative Sentiment: Market selling over $200B AI capex plan — the big capex announcement has spooked investors, triggering heavy rotation out of Big Tech and pressure on free cash flow expectations. AI CapEx Selloff Analysis
• Negative Sentiment: “Bear market” coverage and wider Magnificent Seven sell‑off amplify risk sentiment — headlines framing AMZN’s drop as part of a larger Big Tech unwind add to momentum‑driven downside. Bear Market Coverage
• Negative Sentiment: PR and privacy backlash — Ring terminated a partnership with Flock Safety after criticism stemming from a Super Bowl ad, a near‑term reputational headwind for Ring and consumer trust. Ring/Flock Partnership Cancellation
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk in Europe — Italian tax police conducted searches in Milan in a new tax probe, introducing another regulatory overhang to monitor. Italy Tax Probe

Amazon.com Company Profile

Amazon.com, Inc is a diversified technology and retail company best known for its e-commerce marketplace and broad portfolio of consumer and enterprise services. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994 and headquartered in Seattle, Washington, the company launched as an online bookseller and expanded into a global retail platform that sells products directly to consumers and provides a marketplace for third-party sellers. Over time Amazon has grown beyond retail into areas including cloud computing, digital media, devices and logistics.

Key businesses and offerings include Amazon’s online marketplace and fulfillment services, the Amazon Prime membership program (which bundles expedited shipping with streaming and other benefits), Amazon Web Services (AWS) which supplies on-demand cloud computing and storage to businesses and public-sector customers, and a range of content and advertising services such as Prime Video and Amazon Advertising.